Running Man- Armin
by Ace-Attorney-Tee
Summary: A quick thing using the Running Man prompt.


_Shit. Shit shit shit._

His breathing was heavy as he held the reins of his horse's bridle tightly. He could hear cannons firing behind him, the screams of countless civilians terrorizing his mind as he rode further and further away from the walls he once called home. At least for a short while, anyways. He wasn't sure he exactly called that place home, but now he was heading towards the place he _was_ born in, planning to go even further, beyond the walls destroyed all those years ago. His gear was still intact, gas tanks full and blades stocked. He wasn't sure how long it would last him, but hopefully he could move past all of it and create something entirely new, outside the terror of the titans, and escape the constant fear of being eaten.

Though, he wasn't sure if anyone else was alive to accompany him.

{~*~}

_Something that day went horribly wrong. The Scouts were planning another expedition that day. They were going to reclaim more area within the walls of Maria, or, at least, map it out. None of the people who knew about the plan were very sure they could kill enough titans to claim a section of the area they had lost, but they were at least going to see how many there were. The battle with the titans was always tough, and this part was going to be the toughest thing they had most likely ever done, but everyone was fairly confident. They had been planning this for a while, and making sure everyone was up to the task._

_So, after Armin's part in strategizing was done, he was supposed to head down to the barracks. He was on guard duty for the crystal- he wasn't sure why he had to watch it, let alone anyone, it didn't appear as though Annie was going to break free anytime soon. But he complied, as he always did, and made his way down underneath the city._  
><em>He ended up sitting there, leaning up against the hard surface of the crystal, just thinking. Since his job <em>was_ to watch her, he would glance back at her every so often, making sure she hadn't moved or anything. In all honesty, it was very boring. She couldn't talk back to him like she had used to, and being in her presence as she floated there lifelessly was almost upsetting. He sighed, and shifted so that he could see her, and leaned back._

_There was a loud crumbling noise, and a second later the whole chamber shook. Armin stood up immediately, and looked over at the crystal. She was still asleep, eyes closed, and body still. Like he had thought, she wasn't breaking out any time soon, but now he had another pressing thing on his mind- what caused that tremor. He was about to leave, then a **crash** and a muffled **roar** came to his attention. _Oh god, oh god, what was that?! ...That roar almost sounded like...Eren?

_At this point, he couldn't afford to wait any longer. He took off down the halls, moving as fast as he could without tripping over himself. He bounded up the staircase, out through the tunnel, and-_

_"GRAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGHHH"_

_They had- they had gotten in. __So many of them, too._

_As far as Armin could tell, they were fighting them off as best as they could, but...he could tell by the bodies already littering the streets that it wasn't enough._

That was when Armin decided to run. He thought it a foolish, cowardly decision, but there was barely anything he could do. Offering himself up to the titans was something he didn't want to do- he didn't want the Scouts- or, whatever was left of them- to lose another soldier. Selfish to him, but he had to convince himself somehow that it was the right thing to do, else he risked collapsing from his anxiety.

So, here he was, racing away on the back of his horse from the sounds of screams, roars, and stomping. Trying not to look back at the chaos unfurling, he continues forward, keeping his eyes on the expanse of land ahead of him, occasionally flicking his eyes around to check for any titans.

...Nothing. He sighed in relief as he kept riding, farther and farther away from the wreck that was going on.


End file.
